Nova Heart

Nova Heart

Nova Heart is a Beijing-based electronic group active since 2012. It centres on Helen Feng, who sings and plays keys, with Bo Xuan on bass, Wang Hui on guitar, and Shi Lu, also known as Atom, on drums. Metro Tokyo and Rodion appear on some occasions.

Background

Helen Feng is from Beijing and grows up in the US and Canada before returning to China. After moving back from Los Angeles to Beijing in 2002, she works as a VJ for MTV China. In 2004 she founds Ziyo, later renamed Free the Birds in 2010 after a shift in musical direction. She also hosts the radio show The Rockshow on Beijing’s HIT FM on China Radio International.

In 2007 she co-founds the electronic group Pet Conspiracy. Over the next three years, she performs the theme song for The Mummy III, wins several Chinese music awards including Midi and Chinese Music Awards, hosts the Vice Creators Project, co-founds FakeMusicMedia with Philipp Grefer, and tours Europe three times with Pet Conspiracy. After her final European tour with that band in 2010, she leaves Pet Conspiracy and later encounters Rodion in Istanbul, which leads to the formation of Nova Heart.

Sound and collaborators

Nova Heart develops from Helen Feng’s self-produced tracks, which are sent to Rome for Rodion to work on. The group’s sound combines psychedelic disco, lo-fi pop vocals and layered electronic textures, with a strong disco rhythm and atmospheric production. Rodion is associated with Gomma Records and contributes to the project on occasion.